9/28 Singapore and Bali

We reached Little India around 9:30 and the first store we saw had these giant bananas

The one I picked weighed more than a pound.

cool design made with the garlands offered to hindu gods

We found some great food in Little India and Evelyn got a Henna tatoo and some bracelets

Super sweet Indian desserts

I bought a buncha these without realizing we had an international flight in the afternoon, so I had a major sugar high on the plane. After wondering around Little India some more and finding Evelyn's chicken rice, we took the MRT over to Clark Quay and tried the extremely overpriced Singapore Sling; a famous drink made with gin, bendictine, pineapple juice, and cherry liquer. It was pretty good, but definitely not worth the $12.

only drinking half of this got Evelyn a little buzzed

Singapore is the cleanest place I've ever been. They have laws chewing gum, farting in public, and not flushing public toilets just to name a few. If you are caught perpetrating any of these infractions, you'll be issued a stiff fine. Singapore also has the best public transportation system I've ever seen with MRT able to take you almost anywhere and frequent buses to finish the network.

Only annoying thing is the cards used on the MRT require 1SGD deposited and must be returned to get the money back

Also, everyone in Singapore speaks English and Chinese, so this makes it very easy to ask for directions and get around. The major drawback of Singapore is that it's very expensive, so I don't recommend for backpackers. It's a great place to go when you're older and need to spend your money. Next stop: Bali.

It was around sunset when we began our descent to Bali. Bali is one of the islands that makes up Indonesia and was once called the last paradise on Earth. It is now an extremely developed tourist hotspot, but has managed to retain it's rich culture that apparently has festivals every other day. We had to pay for tourist visa when we arrived and another airport tax when we were leaving, so I was wondering why this was the dirtiest airport we had visited yet, where was all that money going? I found out from our driver the next day who's English isn't the best that their "government is number one corruption in the world." That explained a lot. The exchange rate is a bit ridiculous at US$1=8,900IDR. The airport's exchange rate was 8600 only if you have $100 bills. The rate is worse if you have lower denominations. Of course, Evelyn had done tons of research we had $100 bills with us. So yes, I was able to say that I have 1 million in my wallet. Alright, so after that, we got a taxi to Tune Hotel, the same place we stayed in KL. After settling in, we went and got the first of many massages. This one was an hour long foot and shoulder massage that cost 65,000, so about $8. Yes, Bali is cheap. After that, we walked down to the beach and found a relaxing lounge bar.

Around 1am, after a few drinks, we called it a night. We had to get a good night's rest for our adventure the next day.